We sand for hours. My fingers are sore and full of splinters, my arm muscles are almost too tired to go on. We don’t stop for water or food, and finally Pirate Bradshaw throws some rags at us. ‘Wipe all that dust off!’ she says. ‘Then you can start on the oil.’
‘Can I go feed my croc?’ I ask, coz I know there’s food and water on Licorice.
‘Crocs don’t need to eat every day.’
‘But I gotta throw water on him to keep him cool,’ I say.
‘It can dip itself in the sea. Or are its legs broken?’
‘Yep, it can’t move at all. Why else it jus’ be sitting on a boat.’
‘You fixing to eat it? That why you wanna plump it up?’
‘No!’ I say coz the idea of eating Uncle Croc is jus’ weird now we’ve sailed together for a couple of days.
‘Then you don’t need to feed it. Do the oil and keep your wormy-mouth shut,’ Pirate Bradshaw says and shoves me away.
Saleesi and I mop away the dust and then get to rubbing the oil into the boards. They turn dark and shiny like they’s enjoying being cared for after so long. We’re still working as the earth turns away from the sun. Pirate Bradshaw’s gone below and she’s cooking up a feast by the smell of things. My stomach growls.
‘She ain’t cooking for you,’ Saleesi says.
‘But I worked all day for her,’ I say.
‘Still, don’t you take her food, or you’ll be for it,’ Saleesi says.
‘Oh, my faithful crew!’ Pirate Bradshaw calls in a strange sweet voice and my feet are carrying my stomach to the door to below before I can stop them.
On the table sitting in a frypan is a large fish floating in rich red sauce, and it smells amazing. ‘Come on down now. Work done for the day. Eat up!’ She hefts a hunk of fish onto a metal plate and lays a fork beside it. ‘Come on, it’s getting cold.’ She sets a jug of water on the table too.
I’m straight down there. It’s a matter of life or death. I spent a long day sweating in the hot sun and I gotta drink. I gulp down two cups of water and shovel that fish in so fast, it’s almost gone by the time Pirate Bradshaw sits down.
‘Where’s Saleesi?’ I ask.
‘Ungrateful thing don’t like my cooking. Your bunkroom is through the back if you wanna lie down,’ she says, and waves at a little door beside the steps back up to the deck.
I finish all my food and I’m thinking I’ll sleep now so I can get up early, unhitch Licorice Stix and sail away before Pirate Bradshaw wakes up.
‘Thank you,’ I say coz I don’t want her to call me ungrateful thing, and head to the little wooden door. There’s jus’ room enough to stand up in there, and the rest is a long thin bed with a blanket on it. I crawl onto the bed and lay down. Then there’s a click. She’s locked the door! I crawl back and hammer on the door. ‘Let me out!’ She don’t answer. Above the bed there’s a hatch but no amount of pushing on it will move it. It’s also locked from the outside. I’m stuck here, on a pirate boat. How can I ever get home? How will I rescue Jag?
